TV Review: The Walking Dead – Series 6 Episode 11: ‘Knots Untie’

“Your world’s about to get a whole lot bigger”, or you know, at least your list of expendable cast members is… This week’s episode makes Alexandria seem like just another dot on the map, as Jesus enlightens the group on the existence of an entire expanded network of other communities.

With that in mind, for a community that has survived this long, the Hilltop group certainly seems pretty underdeveloped. That’s probably due to their lack of “fighters”, a fact that I find oddly peculiar considering how late in the zombie apocalypse we are now. There again, ironically, it is probably their connection with the Saviours that has pulled them through so far. Sure they extort them for half of their supplies, but, I mean, do you really think those two spear guys could stop a walker horde like we saw at the start of this series? (Or even one Rick Grimes kind of character for that matter?) That being said, with the deal set up between Maggie and Gregory, they’ll have the same level of protection without the cruel, baseball bat wielding psychopath Negan being involved.

That is if defeating the Saviours ends up being as easy as the group thinks. Which it most certainly will not. The Walking Dead hasn’t had a strong main antagonist since the Governor, so it’ll be so amazing when Negan finally shows up (probably in the series finale). His name has popped up a few times in the past few weeks and after having an ‘explosive’ encounter with his men, it seems that Daryl thinks that he’ll be a complete pushover. Oh how wrong he’s going to be. He’ll be eating his words, but hopefully that’ll be the only thing that he’ll be facing once Negan arrives.

Fans have been speculating what exactly is going to happen when he finally appears on screen and this week I’ve heard one theory that really would be shocking. After Jesus’ story about the young boy killed ‘right off the bat’ when Negan first came into contact with the Hilltop Community, some have been saying that he may just one-up that with the Alexandrians. So what if he kills Judith?! In the comics she isn’t alive at this stage and as tragic as it is, she’s an expendable enough character who would certainly make fans of the show hate Negan right from the start. I certainly don’t think it will be Glenn like in the comics, especially after that whole dumpster debacle earlier in the series. It’d probably feel a little cheap.

However, another contender to meet Lucille is Maggie. This week’s episode sees her becoming much more of a key player in the show. She’s become the Alexandrians’ key negotiator with the Hilltop Community and the scene at end of ‘Knots Untie’ where the group are passing the ultrasound photograph around the RV could potentially foreshadow something ominous. Due to the important role she plays later in the comics it may seem unlikely, but they could certainly do a role reversal between her and Glenn.

All in all, ‘Knots Untie’ is quite a middle-ground episode. By that I mean, it was a decent viewing experience but nothing too amazing really happens. However, you can totally tell that the show’s beginning to build up momentum for a dramatic finale and I can’t wait!